Tri-County News

SWCD works to help provide safe and clean water everyday


Groundwater is the world’s most extracted raw material with withdrawal rates to be estimated at trillions of gallons each year. According to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), groundwater supplies 75% of Minnesota’s drinking water and 90% of all agricultural irrigation. For most of us in Stearns County, our drinking water is pumped from underground aquifers using public or private wells. The exception to this is the City of St. Cloud which draws their drinking water from the Mississippi River.

The Stearns County Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) recognizes the importance of managing and protecting our surface and ground-water resources and understands that it is a critical task for cities to ensure that their residents have affordable, safe, and clean drinking water to use. The Stearns County SWCD works closely with many of our public water suppliers and MDH to create and implement wellhead protection plans. These plans help public water suppliers identify, locate, and manage potential contamination sources and to keep pollutants from reaching our aquifers.

The Stearns County SWCD focuses on getting conservation practices installed within the Drinking Water Supply Management Areas (DWSMAs). A DWSMA includes the area where water soaks into the ground and replaces the water we use from an aquifer at the community level. Sealing unused wells, implementing a nutrient or irrigation management plan, and planting cover crops are just some of the practices that help protect our drinking water supply and improve overall water quality. Some of these practices can make a farm more efficient and improve a landowner’s profitability.

The National Ground Water Association (NGWA) and The Groundwater Foundation (GF) have dedicated the week of March 7-13, 2021, as National Groundwater Awareness Week (GWAW). This is an annual observance established in 1999 to highlight the responsible development, management, and use of groundwater. The event is also a platform to encourage periodic well water testing and well maintenance, and the promotion of policies impacting groundwater quality and supply. To learn more about National Groundwater Awareness Week, visit www.ngwa.org/get-involved/groundwater–awareness-week/groundwater–awareness-week-2021.

Over the course of the GWAW, the Stearns County SWCD ran a Facebook social media campaign on informing the public about groundwater topics, what you can do to help, and the role our office plays in helping keep our groundwater safe and clean.

If you have questions, or are interested in learning more about what conservation practices would work for your yard, business, or farming operation, please contact the Stearns County SWCD office at (320) 251-7800 ext. 3, or via email at StearnsCountySWCD@gmail.com.

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